Hand Held GPS.

Was looking at a hand held GPS and came across the Garmin Rhino 130.
Certainly looks like it would be of great use in Line Searches when there are visibility obsticles as it allows you to track multiple other Rhino units.

Anyone using one of these yet??

Was looking at a hand held GPS and came across the Garmin Rhino 130.
Certainly looks like it would be of great use in Line Searches when there are visibility obsticles as it allows you to track multiple other Rhino units.

Anyone using one of these yet??

Apparently either no one has touched one of these, or our group here is still too small a cross section?

I was really considering those, but from all the info I could get about them, they are very short-range radios, not even close to the normal range of an FRS radio. You'd almost be able to tell to anybody in distance of the radio.  I read a comment that a couple military units in the 'sandy areas' tried them out, and were very unimpressed.

If they were cheaper, it'd prolly be ok, but for the cost, you might as just get a good hand-held GPS and use the ISR radio that NHQ paid for.

I was really considering those, but from all the info I could get about them, they are very short-range radios, not even close to the normal range of an FRS radio. You'd almost be able to tell to anybody in distance of the radio.  I read a comment that a couple military units in the 'sandy areas' tried them out, and were very unimpressed.

If they were cheaper, it'd prolly be ok, but for the cost, you might as just get a good hand-held GPS and use the ISR radio that NHQ paid for.

I wonder why the poor performance??
The technology is very intriguing, but the performance HAS to be there to back it up.

I wonder why the poor performance??
The technology is very intriguing, but the performance HAS to be there to back it up.

El-cheapo antenna, mainly.

I'd love to see GPS functionality added to a Vertex or Johnson hand-held.  I'm pretty sure CAP would jump on those, like we did for that special version of the Tait T2000 (the T2020 model was produced specifically for CAP).

Was looking at a hand held GPS and came across the Garmin Rhino 130.
Certainly looks like it would be of great use in Line Searches when there are visibility obsticles as it allows you to track multiple other Rhino units.

Anyone using one of these yet??

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once.

Actually, I've had the Rino 120 in my possession since getting it as a Christmas Present in 03.  I can't complain about the range, it's seems to be on par with most other FRS units I've used.  I'm used to 3-5 Watts out on VHF, so even the best FRS radio pales in comparison anyway. 

There are four more of my Squadron mates who own rinos of various lineage.  one 110, two 120s and even one 130.  We've used them at large airshows and they were a lot of fun.

I also have started to use mine for Geocaching, and it's been spot-on.

Was looking at a hand held GPS and came across the Garmin Rhino 130.
Certainly looks like it would be of great use in Line Searches when there are visibility obsticles as it allows you to track multiple other Rhino units.

Anyone using one of these yet??

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once.

Actually, I've had the Rino 120 in my possession since getting it as a Christmas Present in 03.  I can't complain about the range, it's seems to be on par with most other FRS units I've used.  I'm used to 3-5 Watts out on VHF, so even the best FRS radio pales in comparison anyway. 

There are four more of my Squadron mates who own rinos of various lineage.  one 110, two 120s and even one 130.  We've used them at large airshows and they were a lot of fun.

I also have started to use mine for Geocaching, and it's been spot-on.

So your experience has been that they are "typical" of all low power FRS units?

Did you find the "Other Unit Locating" feature to be of any real value??
That is the ONE feature that is drawing me towards them.
Knowing EXACTLY where the other units are in relation to me would "seem" to be a great "+" when out in the field.

I wouldn't say that feature would prompt me to buy it.  As I mentioned, I got it as a gift, with no real intention of using it for CAP purposes.

Having said that, we did use them at a few airshows and while it was "fun" I can't say it was the best thing since camelbacks.  The user you want to track has to X-mit to display their position on your unit.  If I want to know where my people are, I'll simply ask them. 

OTOH, it can be useful for other things, like monitoring participants on a parade route, and various other uses I have not yet had the foresight to implement.

In regards to CAP missions, I believe ISR is a better choice for local communications. 

I wouldn't say that feature would prompt me to buy it.  As I mentioned, I got it as a gift, with no real intention of using it for CAP purposes.

Having said that, we did use them at a few airshows and while it was "fun" I can't say it was the best thing since camelbacks.  The user you want to track has to X-mit to display their position on your unit.  If I want to know where my people are, I'll simply ask them. 

OTOH, it can be useful for other things, like monitoring participants on a parade route, and various other uses I have not yet had the foresight to implement.

In regards to CAP missions, I believe ISR is a better choice for local communications. 

Still no Silver Bullet then...

I have sitting here a Kenwood TH-7AG handheld with APRS/GPS capability sort of built in. You have to provide an external GPS to connect.  However, once you have it running, APRS will show you the locations of other APRS-equipped units on the screen of your GPS as whatever symbol it uses (they may look like moving waypoints, I don't recall off the top of my head).

Unfortunately, this is far less self contained than the Rhino, but if you left the radio on your belt, you could use the GPS display in hand to view the locations of your people by zooming down.  I haven't connected my eTrex to it yet (need the new-style Garmin connector), but with the topo maps that are downloadable onto it, you could surely see the terrain variations that would cause line search slowdowns, etc.

The other thing is that if your line search is so big that you can't maintain good visual on everybody, maybe you need to use different spacing/cover less area per pass.

The other thing is that if your line search is so big that you can't maintain good visual on everybody, maybe you need to use different spacing/cover less area per pass.

At the Sarex we had a couple weeks ago, the Wing ES officer gave me an example of a LIne Search they did that went on for a couple weeks in Extrmely Dense forrest near the grand canyon, the result of which they were NEVER able to maintain visual contact with other people. Large trees that were densely populated in very rugged slopping terain.

Just made me think something like the Rhino would work nicely.

An interesting coinkidink...

I learned Saturday at my Squadron's meeting that we are receiving a grant for the purpose of obtaining 10 Rino 130s.

If only they were freq'd for ISR